Modern commercial/private aircraft, as well as older aircraft, include a myriad of instrumentation panels having controls and displays used to present information related to the controls. The controls and the displays are operated, viewed, and interpreted by a pilot during flight of an aircraft. Examples of the controls and displays employed by a pilot in piloting the aircraft include an altimeter, an airspeed indicator, a horizontal situation indicator, an attitude indicator, and the like. Other controls are used to permit radio communication with other pilots in the air or with air traffic controllers during flight. Still more controls are used to assist in navigation. In recent years these controls include controls for Global Positioning Systems (GPS) associated with satellite technology. Furthermore, transponder controls permit the aircraft to be uniquely identified and the aircraft's altitude communicated to air traffic controllers during flight.
For a neophyte, the quantity of controls, inputs, and display panels contained within the cockpit of an aircraft are daunting. Even experienced pilots/co-pilots must stay focused to interpret information presented on various displays throughout the cockpit and often must switch between the use of alternate hands during flight to access various controls and control inputs within the cockpit. As a result, pilots/co-pilots must continually scan a plurality of available displays for vital information at any particular moment in time during flight.
Conventionally, data associated with control devices, control inputs, and other instruments within the cockpit is distributed throughout the cockpit and presented on a number of displays. The various data is presented as static or conventional views within the displays. The provided views are generally not modifiable by the pilot/co-pilot. Accordingly, existing data views and/or data formats must be learned by the pilots/co-pilots, and the views cannot be individually tailored to increase the comprehension of the pilot/user, based on any preferences of the pilot/co-pilot.
In recent years, multifunction displays (MFDs) have been developed for use within the cockpit of an aircraft. Such MFDs generally contain a single display screen which provides flight data and other information associated with select aircraft instruments or input controls. Often, however, the select aircraft input controls are not integrated into a bezel surrounding the MFD, and sometimes such input controls are not even located in near proximity to the MFD. And, some MFDs only provide data associated with those select aircraft input controls. Correspondingly, the pilot/user still must manage a myriad of displays, controls, and control inputs located at various locations throughout the cockpit. Additionally, data presented within any one display is not necessarily well organized and structured to provide a meaningful integrated presentation to the pilot/co-pilot. In other words, within a single MFD related flight information data may not be logically grouped within like regions on the display, such that a single glance at the display would provide the pilot/co-pilot with all the desired data at any desired moment.
Moreover, existing displays do not permit views, within the display, to include useful overlays or graphical display insets of additional relevant data. For example, a graphical view of an aircraft depicting the aircraft as it travels along a planned route toward a destination, generally does not permit the same graphical view to be overlaid with weather conditions occurring along the planned route, terrain conditions present along the planned route, and/or traffic conditions occurring along the planned route relative to other aircraft flying in close proximity to the planned route. And, even if some overlaid view or graphical display inset is permitted, existing views do not allow the perspective of that view to be altered. For example, a pilot/co-pilot cannot view the aircraft as it travels along the planned route from a top-down perspective, a bottom-up perspective, a birds-eye perspective, and the like. Accordingly, the pilot/co-pilot is forced to accept the perspective provided with the view.
To further emphasize the problems associated with providing customization with existing MFDs, consider that conventional MFDs are not easily expanded to include additional functionality as a pilot/user desires. As a result, MFDs are not flexible and any modifications that require additional functionality, to support expanded display (e.g., view) integration features, requires expensive design modifications to the control inputs, the control devices, and the software driving the presentation of data on the MFDs. As a result, there is very little customization which occurs within the MFD industry, and correspondingly pilots/users have learned to accept and use whatever features are provided with the MFDs by the manufacturers.
As is apparent to one skilled in the art, existing cockpit control systems and cockpit instrument displays do not provide seamless integration with respect to communication controls, navigational controls, and equipment controls or instruments, or for the instrument displays which present data views associated with these controls and instruments. As a result, the pilot/user is forced to visually or manually switch to alternate instrument displays and various regions within a single display to acquire desired information. Consequently, the pilot/user is often forced to view scattered, multiple instrument displays to obtain all the relevant flight information data associated with the controls or instruments. And, the scattered, multiple instrument displays each present data in varying size, formats, and perspectives which require some degree of mental acclimation or adjustment to interpret.
Therefore, there exists a need for better customization and integration of cockpit display systems and instrument panels within the cockpit, which permit the pilot/user to more rapidly acquire, process, and control flight information data within the display. Moreover, there exists a need for better customization and presentation of flight information data within cockpit displays.